This invention relates generally to product processing systems and, more particularly, to a system for processing products in chemical laboratories and the like.
Automated laboratory systems are used widely to reduce the costs of performing multi-step chemical production and testing procedures. Many such systems employ a robotic device to move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. In a typical operation, a robot is one module of an operating system and would interact with several other modules, which may be called work stations, to achieve the processing of chemical samples. For example, pipette stations, liquid dispensing stations, diluting stations, washing stations and incubation stations are typical stations. Examples of robotic processing systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,510,684; 4,578,764; 4,586,151; 4,835,711; 5,355,439 and 5,363,885.
The user of a robotic processing system first arranges processing stations in any convenient pattern and then instructs a robot in given processing actions. Even though programming tasks, once understood by an operator, are not intellectually challenging, the task of setting up a system to operate efficiently is laborious. As the number of stations in a system increased, the number of variables to keep in mind to avoid collisions and otherwise avoid conflicts in instruction made the task laborious even for those skilled in computer programming. In addition, many traditional robotic systems such as those used for drug screening operations utilize a single robotic device with a number of work stations, which perform operations requiring various time periods and may be repeated several times in a complete process. Consequently, the movement of product samples requires complex looping and scheduling for efficient operation which typically is attained by maximizing utilization time of the robotic device. Product throughput of such systems is limited, therefore, by available robotic device time.
The object of this invention is to provide a robotic system which significantly increase product throughput of chemical processes such as drug screening.